It Follows (2014)

Despite the fact that I keep stating the obvious – I do not gravitate towards the horror genre – I’m still curious at times. And this time my curiosity towards It Follows won over the fear of not being able to sleep soundly at night. Needless to say, I slept well and the movie, despite having some pretty disturbing scenes, was not your typical run of the mill horror movie.

When It Follows came out two years ago, I stayed away, despite the fact that many praised it and the cinematography seemed to be stellar. I wasn’t feeling the horror genre, but when I do, I try to check a well liked movie off the list every now and then. So one evening, when I felt especially brave and graved for something different, I decided to watch It Follows. And like with many of these praised movies I have put aside to stumble on them years later, I liked it a lot and would recommend to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet.

The movie starts like it would be an indie teen angst/romance, we have Jay (Maika Monroe), who has a great group of friends, a friend zoned best friend Paul (Keir Gilchrist), and a possible romance with Hugh (Jake Weary) is looming on the horizon. Well, just like some relationships, Jay, after a steamy night with Hugh, ends up with something more than she wanted – a curse. Hugh, cause deep down he thinks he is a good guy, sticks around to give her the basics – she is haunted by something, and it follows her until she is dead or she passes on the curse. And despite the fact that she is reluctant to believe him, she starts to realize that he was telling the truth, and Jay has to choose between right and wrong.

Best part of It Follows is the fact that it’s fairly simple at its core. We have something disturbing, past on with intercourse, and it follows you until it catches you, kills you, and then goes back to the guy/girl, who passed it on beforehand. There is no explanation how this thing got to be, how to destroy it, who started it etc. There’s just this existence, that changes its appearance from creepy tall guys to half naked women, who are unable to control their bladders. And it doesn’t search for a bigger meaning, and it definitely doesn’t want to keep asking questions. It Follows takes a situation, it throws a very likable leading character like Jay into this situation, and shows how she makes the choice between her life and or the life of someone else.

Maika Monroe did an excellent job of portraying Jay. She didn’t feel weak nor was she extremely brave. She had the exact amount of emotion behind her character, and I felt like she was the strongest in some of the more silent moments, which wee great. I also liked Jake Weary because I like him a lot in Animal Kingdom, and it was nice to see him on screen. He also had a very contradicting character because I wanted to hate him, but I also felt sorry for him.  The rest of the cast was alright as well, and as a group, I think they all were very likable and I could not pick out a weak link.

As far as the end game went, it was brilliant. It had just the right amount of horror and cinematography. Even before I saw the scene play out, I had seen gifsets of that blood mixing in the pool and thought it was gorgeous, with context, it was just as pretty. The plot twist at the end had me wondering though, and in the best way possible because it raised possibilities I would not mind exploring. I don’t know if there would be a sequel, but if It Stills Follows happens, I would like to think, with new teenagers, maybe even grownups, that there would be some clarity. Though I don’t mind the mystery, like I said, I liked the fact that It Follows didn’t try to explain it all. It was very nice.